New Open Access Book from Luminos: Imperial Matter: Ancient Persia and the Archaeology of Empires

Pages 330, 18 Mar 2016

What is the role of the material world in shaping the
tensions and paradoxes of imperial sovereignty? Scholars have long shone
light on the complex processes of conquest, extraction, and colonialism
under imperial rule. But imperialism has usually been cast as an
exclusively human drama, one in which the world of matter does not play
an active role. Lori Khatchadourian argues instead that things—from
everyday objects to monumental buildings—profoundly shape social and
political life under empire. Based on the archaeology of ancient Persia
and the South Caucasus, Imperial Matter advances powerful new
analytical approaches to the study of imperialism writ large and should
be read by scholars of empire across the humanities and social sciences.

“This
book makes an important contribution in two areas: the first concerns
the nature of empire and imperial power; the second is through
developing a novel framework for thinking about material culture and
empire. This is a work of innovative theory and empirical depth, and
there is nothing like it out there.” CHRIS GOSDEN, Professor of
Archaeology, Oxford University

“Important, well-written, and
elegantly crafted. Lori Khatchadourian’s ability to speak to a diverse
audience of anthropologists, archaeologists, and specialists on the
Achaemenid Empire demonstrates her impressive intellectual breadth and
depth. This is a sophisticated and erudite work.” CARLA SINOPOLI,
Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Museum Studies Program,
University of Michigan

The primary focus of the project is notice and comment on open access material relating to the ancient world, but I will also include other kinds of networked information as it comes available.

The ancient world is conceived here as it is at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, my academic home at the time AWOL was launched. That is, from the Pillars of Hercules to the Pacific, from the beginnings of human habitation to the late antique / early Islamic period.

AWOL is the successor to Abzu, a guide to networked open access data relevant to the study and public presentation of the Ancient Near East and the Ancient Mediterranean world, founded at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago in 1994. Together they represent the longest sustained effort to map the development of open digital scholarship in any discipline.